This application claims priority from provisional application Ser. No. 60/286,567, filed on Apr. 26, 2001, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Recent studies with the selective 5HT1A antagonist WAY-100635 have confirmed a role for 5-HT1A receptors in learning and memory. Carli et. al. (Neuropharmacology (1999), 38(8), 1165-1173) demonstrated that WAY-100635 prevented the impairment of spatial learning caused by intrahippocampal injection of 3-[(R)-2-carboxypiperazin-4-yl]propyl-1-phosphonic acid (CPP), a competitive NMDA receptor antagonist, in a two-platform spatial discrimination task. Boast et. al. (Neurobiol. Learn. Mem. (1999), 71(3) 259-271) found that WAY-100635 significantly reduced the cognitive impairment induced by the non-competitive NMDA antagonist MK801, as determined by the performance of rats trained on a delayed nonmatching to sample radial arm maze task. Menesis et. al. (Neurobiol. Learn. Mem. (1999), 71(2) 207-218) showed that post-training administration of WAY-100635 reversed the learning deficit induced by scopolamine, a cholinergic antagonist, in an autoshaping learning task. Novel 5-HT1A antagonists would be useful for this and other uses.